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ALAN WAKE HISTORY
HOME ALAN WAKE Alan Wake was developed by the Finnish game studio Remedy Entertainment who first announced the game at the 2005 Electronic Entertainment Expo. In 2006 Remedy partnered with Microsoft Game Studios and spent the next four years in development. During this time they repeatedly tried to get the game out on PC as well as the console but when released in 2010 Alan Wake was made available exclusively on Microsoft owned XBOX 360. The game was announced as done in August of 2009 and went gold on April 7, 2010 and was released in May of that year. Nearly two years later Alan Wake finally found its way onto the PC where it recouped its costs in about two days. Alan Wake was influenced by several films, TV shows and books; the most notable similarity being the TV show "Twin Peaks". There are numerous comparisons to this show including Cynthia Weaver (modeled after the bag lady) and the coffee thermosis (as residents of Twin Peaks were apparently addicted to mass quantities of the dark liquid). Stephen King also played the role of major influence as the very plot of Alan Wake has been approached in a number of King novels. The games naration directly names and quotes Stephen King on a couple of occasions and homage is payed to "The Shining" in the form a hedge maze outside Dr Emil's Lodge. Influences of Hitchcock are also present and probably the most blatant of all (other than the Stephen King quotes) as any old fan of horror will instantly recognize the mad flocks of black ravens. There is one more obvious influence that is noticable when you turn on any of the television sets that you find scattered around. The show being played is called "Night Springs" and is neatly modeled after "The Twilight Zone". The game's developers used an integrated approach to ad placement by scattering brands throughout the world of Alan Wake. Some of the brands that appear in the game include Energizer batteries (used in the player's flashlight), Verizon Wireless (as a commercial viewable on one the games interactive TV's) and several billboards that advertise Verizon and Energizer as well as Ford and Lincoln automobiles. Several Microsoft brands also appear such as the Ford Sync in-vehicle entertainment system (in Alan and Alice's car), an XBox 360 and Microsoft Tag bar codes which can be scanned with the proper mobile app. A promotional live action web series was released on the internet a few weeks prior to the games release called "Bright Falls". Co-written and directed by Phillip Van it contained six episodes and served as a prequel to the game. It is set in the town of Bright Falls before Alan and his wife arrive. You can find the series here: Bright Falls Alan Wake debuted at #2 in England with sales in the first two weeks reaching 145,000 units. On March 13, 2012 Remedy announced the game had passed 2 million copies sold including both XBox and PC sales. The PC version was completed in about five months and announced in December of 2011. The main game along with its two DLC chapters was released via Steam download on February 16, 2012 and within 48 hours sales hafictiod surpassed Remedy's development and marketing costs. A retail PC version, distributed by Nordic Games was released on March 2, 2012 in both a regular edition and a Collector's edition, containing a soundtrack disc, "The Alan Wake Files", and other special content. The US release hit stores on April 24, 2012, distributed by Legacy Interactive The book, "The Alan Wake Files", is a 144 page expannsion on the games fictional story. Rick Burroughs also wrote a novelization of Alan Wake and a 'making of' book called "Alan Wake: Illuminated" is also available. ED NOTE - Reception chart with links and sources re-printed from Wikipedia |}